With AAP.
Scott Morrison lost his majority in parliament on Monday and just a day later he’s dropped even further back, with one of his MPs quitting the Government.
Julia Banks had already announced she was leaving parliament at the election, but on Tuesday dropped a bombshell on the Prime Minister, revealing she was moving to the crossbench.
“Effective immediately, I will serve as a member of this House of Representatives as an independent representative,” she told the lower house on Tuesday.
And she wasn’t going quietly. In a brief, but blistering statement, the member for the Victorian seat of Chisolm, took aim at the members of her party that executed the overthrow of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in August.
“Their actions were undeniably for themselves, for their position in the party, their power, their personal ambition, not for the Australian people we represent, not for what people voted for in the 2016 election,” she said.
Banks also pointed to the need for a swift culture change in Parliament around the treatment of female MPs and an independent whistleblower system to protect those who wish to report misconduct of senior colleagues.
“Across both major parties the level of regard and respect for women in politics is years behind the business world,” she said.
“Often when good women ‘call out’ or are subjected to bad behaviour, the reprisals, backlash and commentary portrays them as the bad ones; the liar, the troublemaker, emotionally unstable or weak, or someone who should be silenced. To those who say politics is not for the fainthearted and that women have to ‘toughen up’, I say this: the hallmark characteristics of the Australian woman (and I’ve met thousands of them) … are resilience and strong, authentic, independent spirit.”
The former corporate lawyer has been an outspoken advocate for equal representation in Parliament, and called for the Liberals to adopt gender quotas: “There are equal numbers meritorious Liberal woman out there in the real world as there are men,” Banks told the House in September. “It’s really simple, if you only have a man running and you can’t find a woman: find one.”
Banks’ announcement came as Mr Morrison was effectively announcing the timetable for the lead-up to the next election, expected in May.
He said the federal budget will be brought forward to April 2, which will allow for the election to be held within the legal window for a half-Senate and House of Representatives election which closes on May 18.
The Prime Minister also said the budget would be in surplus, which would be reflected in the mid-year review to be published on December 17.
“It is absolutely our intention to have the budget before the election and to deliver a surplus budget, a surplus budget that we promised to deliver,” he told reporters.
He dodged questions about Ms Banks’ move to the crossbench.
She has promised not to vote for no confidence motions in the government.
The loss of Malcolm Turnbull’s seat of Wentworth to independent Kerryn Phelps saw Mr Morrison lose his majority in parliament on Monday morning when she was sworn in.
But he has signed an agreement with Queensland independent Bob Katter to ensure he won’t lose no confidence motions.
Mr Morrison is due to visit Argentina for a G20 meeting after parliament finishes sitting on Thursday, before returning in time for the the final sitting week of the year.
STATE OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Coalition 74
Labor 69
Crossbench 7
Adam Bandt (Greens)
Bob Katter (Katter’s Australian Party)
Cathy McGowan (Independent)
Kerryn Phelps (Independent)
Rebekha Sharkie (Centre Alliance)
Andrew Wilkie (Independent)
Julia Banks (Independent)
Total 150 seats
(Also of note: Nationals MP Kevin Hogan sits on the crossbench but attends Nationals party room meetings.)
Top Comments
It's funny that so many from both sides seem to be outraged at the removal of Malcolm Turnbull, yet celebrated Turnbull's removal of Tony Abbott.
It's clearly not about the principal but the person.
Abbott was hated though by Australians and his party. He was removed, not by Turnbull, but by his colleagues because he was dysfunctional and incompetent. Turnbull was completely different, he was liked and respected by people on all sides, and it was the far right faction who overthrew him based on ideology, not through any fault of Turnbull himself. So it is both principle - or ideology, and person.
I find it very difficult to reconcile your assertion that Abbott was hated by Australians when he won an election with the largest majority in recent history.
I also find it difficult to believe that Turnbull was liked and respected by both sides when he lost way more polls than Abbott, which was a metric that Turnbull of course used as justification for his stabbing Abbott in the back.
1. You are confusing election wins with popularity. It is a fact that govt's lose elections, oppositions don't win them. Don't make the mistake of assuming because Abbott, by default, 'won' that election, it was because he was popular. It was because the people wanted rid of Rudd so badly they held their nose and voted in the opposition, which Abbott led. To presume winning an election means popularity is extremely naive and ignorant of politics. At no stage did Abbott ever win a 'most preferred PM' poll. Malcolm did. Malcolm never lost a Preferred PM poll. That there, is your proof.
2. The poll losses were just ONE of the justifications, and I remind you that Abbott was never 'stabbed in the back', unlike Malcolm was by Abbott in 2009. Abbott had warning after warning after warning if he didn't change (two of the things conservatives wanted Abbott to change was sack Peta Credlin, and move Hockey out of Treasurer) he will be gone. Goodness, he faced an infamous 'empty chair' revolt that February before, when he said he would change. He asked for 6 months. He in fact, got SEVEN months. So enough of this Abbott was stabbed in the back bs. He was front-stabbed with 14 months warning and he SAW it coming.
2013 - the drover's dog election. My dead cat could have won it for the Liberal party.
Banks's letter sounds as self serving as the politicians who (afraid of losing their seats) dumped Turnbull as leader. She knew what the Liberal Party's views were on gender quotas and was more than happy for them to finance her foray into politics. Now when it looks as if the Liberals will be turfed out, she jumps ship and runs as an independent in the hope of being re elected.
Cause and effect. Banks is the latest domino falling due to the coup. Some of her reasons may be self-serving, but a lot don't seem to be, evidenced by the courage of her conviction in voting for Julie Bishop and speaking out against the plotters.
I, no doubt alongside many Australians, am admiring JB for this move.
Sh*t ain't gonna change itself.
I think I've ended up somewhere between these two camps. I agree it's good she's spoken out and is helping motivate change.
But it certainly seems that if the Liberals hadn't collapsed in the last few months, she wouldn't be leaving the party and calling out it's biases. She's no different to Scott "I voted 27 times against the Royal Commission into Banking but now the public know what they were up to I totally support it" Morrison. They find their morals when it suits them or seems politically expedient.
I look at stuff like voting for Julia Bishop when it was so last season and calling out the coup's shittiness in its immediate aftermath and can see principles and conviction. You can expect all politicians to be self-serving, it's a question of degree.
The LNP are currently far beyond the limits of a reasonable tolerance for political self-interest. Mooting a move for the Israeli embassy, right on top of a unwanted and destabilising coup, that served no one's interests but a few out-of-touch antagonists, crystallised that for a lot of people.
Boy do I feel silly, being excited that comments were all of a suddenly being well moderated and posted in a reasonable amount of time. Back to up voted comments going back to D.A.S already...